Andy Messer

Municipal Law
Economic Development
Civil Litigation

Andy Messer has over 30 years of experience in governmental law, defense litigation and appeals, representing various entities on claims of civil rights, discrimination, land use, annexation, zoning, platting, planned developments, employment, police liability, retaliatory discharge, competitive bidding, city ordinance defense, condemnation and tort claims of personal injury, property damage and wrongful death. He currently serves as city attorney for numerous North Texas cities. He is on the approved panel counsel list for the TML Risk Pool to represent local governments in significant litigation and appeals. He regularly speaks across the state on municipal and litigation issues.

• Best Lawyers in America, Municipal Law and Litigation, 2007-2023
• Served as director and on the faculty of the State Bar Suing and Defending Governmental Entities
• Served on the faculty of the University of Texas Land Use Law conference
• Recipient of award from CLEAT for service to police affairs

• Messer Fort – City Attorney for numerous cities. Significant municipal, litigation and appeals experience.
• Fletcher & Springer Head Municipal Law Section, Dallas Office – Litigation and appeals experience
• Wichita Falls – Municipal law, litigation and appeals
• City of Dallas – Municipal law, litigation and appeals

• Baylor University School of Law, J.D. 1985
• Baylor University, B.B.A. 1983

• 2018 TMLIRP Attorney Workshop, “Waiver of Immunity by Removal: Strategic Considerations”, August 24, 2018
• U.T. Law School, Land Use Planning Conference – “Municipal Regulation in the ETJ: Lakewood Village v. Bizios”, April 28, 2016
• Irving Code Summit, “Building Code Enforcement in the ETJ”, May 1, 2015
• Open Government and Enforcement Conference – Sherman, TX, November 7, 2014
• Irving Code Summit, “Texas Code Enforcement for Attorneys and Officials,” May 30, 2014
• Texas Code Enforcement, Irving Code Summit, – “Sex Offender Residency Restriction Ordinances- For the Protection of Children,” April 12, 2013
• Texas PRIMA Conference – “Sexual Predator Buffer Zones; Duarte v. City of Lewisville – The First Case in Texas, Louisiana & Mississippi,” November 12, 2013
• Texas PRIMA Conference – “9-1-1 Emergency Response Liability,” November 13, 2012
• U.T. Law School, Land Use Planning Conference – “Platting,” March 21, 2012
• Dallas Bar Association Government Law Section, – “Contract Claims: Fight the Good Fight (Because we’re losing the battle),” April 5, 2011; State PRIMA Conference, Galveston, Texas, November 17, 2011
• Suing and Defending Governmental Entities Seminar – “Dealing with the National Media – We’re not in Texas anymore,” July 15-16 2010
• Texas Annexation Battles, Suing and Defending Governmental Entities Seminar, July 17, 2009
• Texas Municipal League Annual Conference – “Employment Tips for City Attorneys,” November 8, 2007
• Law Enforcement Consultant, Law Enforcement Television, 2003; Faculty for The Center for American and International Law, Institute for Law Enforcement Administration, 40th Management College, March 1, 2004; Supervisors College, April 14, 2005, January 29, 2007, Tulsa, Oklahoma, February 20, 2007
• Texas City Attorneys’ Association, South Padre Island – “E-Discovery: The Nightmare Begins,” June 15, 2007; Suing and Defending Governmental Entities Seminar, San Antonio, July 13, 2007; Texas Municipal League Annual Attorney Workshop, Austin, August 17, 2007
• Suing and Defending Governmental Entities, State Bar of Texas (San Antonio) – “Joint Enterprise Liability, Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun,” July 17, 2003; Texas Municipal League Attorney Workshop, August 22, 2003
• Texas Municipal League Annual Conference, Austin – “Practical Litigation Tips for City Attorneys,” October 26, 2006
• State Bar of Texas Course Director – Suing & Defending Governmental Entities, July 25-26, 2002 (Galveston), September 5-6, 2002 (Dallas), October 10-11, 2002 (Austin)
• 50 Texas Police Journal 15 – “First Things First – Pleas to the Jurisdiction,” (2002)
• Texas Municipal League Employment Law Seminar – “Whistleblowers,” February 20, 2002
• Suing and Defending Governmental Entities, State Bar of Texas – “Pleas to the Jurisdiction,” July 13, 2000; Texas Municipal League Attorney Workshop, September 8, 2000; Suing and Defending Governmental Entities, State Bar of Texas, July 29, 2005
• Texas Public Risk Managers Association, Mesquite – “Personal Liability and Official Immunity,” August 18, 2000; Texas Association of School Business Officials, Austin, March 1, 2001
• Gallagher Bassett Insurance Services, Dallas – “The Texas Tort Claims Act: from A to Z,” April 28, 2000; St. Paul Insurance, San Antonio, September 14, 2000; Federal Bar Association, Dallas, September 15, 2000; Hammerman & Gainer 34th Annual Insurance Claims Seminar, Las Colinas, January 18, 2001; Texas Association of School Boards Annual Conference, Austin, April 23 – 24, 2001
• Federal Bar Association, Dallas – “The Secrets to an Open Government: The Open Records and Open Meetings Acts,” September 10, 1999
• Reliance Insurance, Dallas – “The A-B-C’s of School Law,” June 10, 1999
• Texas Public Risk Managers Association, Grapevine – “Defending Federal Tort Claims,” March 12, 1999
• Texas City Attorney’s Association, Semi-Annual Conference, South Padre Island – “Interlocutory Appeals in State and Federal Court,” June 12-13, 1998
• 36 Municipal Attorney 6 (1995); republished, 44 Texas Police Journal 14 – “When Plaintiffs Sue for Excessive Force – How to Get Out of Court Quickly,” 1996

Federal Cases

United States Supreme Court

• City of Hugo Oklahoma v. Buchanon, et al., 132 S.Ct. 1744 (2012)

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans

• Aurelio Duarte, Wynjean Duarte, S.D. A Minor, by and Through Wynjuean Duarte, Acting as her Next Friend, Brandi Duarte, v. City of Lewisville, Texas, -F.3d-, 2014 WL 3605855 (5th Cir. 2014), on remand, -F.3d- Cause No. 15-41456 (5th Cir. 2016)
• Pena v. Givens, 2015 WL 7234253 (5th Cir. 2015)
• Cantrell v. City of Murphy, et al, 666 F.3d 911(5th Cir. 2012), pet. denied, 133 S.Ct. 119 (2012)
• Lee Price Fernon v. Robin Smajstrala et al, No. 97-1395 (5th Cir. 1998)
• Walter Bensch v. Penelope Mattos, et al, 149 F.3d 1179, Nos. 97-10691 and 97-11222, (5th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 119 S. Ct. 547 (1998)
• Allen Killingsworth v. Eric Lynn Chatman, No. 97-10407 (5th Cir. 1997)
• William Steve McGrew v. Wichita Falls Police Department et al, No. 96-10033 (5th Cir. 1996)

District Court Cases

• Peter Payne, et al. v. United States of America, John McHugh, Secretary of the United States Army, United States Army Corps of Engineers, City of Frisco et al, 2016 WL 454899 (E.D. Tex. 2016)
• Gray v. Krueger, 2011 WL 2174311 (E.D. Tex. 2011)
• Michael LeBlanc v. City of Haltom City, et al, 2011 WL 2222175 (N.D. Tex. 2011)
• Sadeghian v. Town of Little Elm, 2008 WL 4453424 (E.D. Tex. 2008)
• Winegarner v. City of Coppell, 2007 WL 1040877 (N.D. Tex. 2007)
• Kuhl v. City of Frisco, 2007 WL 1051760 (E.D. Tex. 2007)
• Cunningham v. Chapel Hill ISD, 438 F. Supp. 2d 718 (E.D. Tex. 2006)

State Cases

Texas Supreme Court

• Bizios v. Town of Lakewood Village, 493 S.W. 3d 527 (Tex. 2016)
• City of Denton v. Paper, 376 S.W.3d 762 (Tex. 2012)
• City of Irving v. Inform Construction, Inc., 201 S.W. 3d 693 (Tex. 2006)

Courts of Appeal

• Christopher L. Gay and Steven L. Carroll v. The City of Wichita Falls, -S.W.3d-, 2014 WL 3939141 (Tex. App.-El Paso 2014)
• The City of Athens v. Athens Municipal Water Authority, 2014 WL 5279174 (Tex. App.-Tyler 2014)
• DSW Masters Holding Corp. et al v. Detective Tyree, et al, 2012 WL 466455 (Tex. App.- Fort Worth 2012, no pet.)
• Somchai Saramanee and Andrew Terrell Boggess v. Town of Northlake, 2011 WL 944908 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2011)
• Diaz v. Ellis County, 2010 WL 4243622 (Tex. App.-Waco 2010, no pet.)
• City of Celina v. City of Pilot Point, 2009 WL 2750978 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2009, pet. denied)
• City of Mesquite v. PKG Contracting, 263 S.W.3d 444 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2009, pet. denied)
• DeSoto Wildwood Development Inc. v. City of Lewisville, 184 S.W.3d 814 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2005, no pet. h.)
• Davis v. City of Grapevine, 188 S.W.3d 748 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2005, pet. denied)
• City of Allen v. Ahmed, 2005 WL 3436690 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2005)
• City of Irving v. Inform Construction, 143 S.W.3d 371 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2004)
• Richard Allen v. City of Mesquite and Mesquite Board of Adjustment, 2004 WL 612798 (Tex. App.-Texarkana 2004)
• Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc. v. Irving ISD, 123 S.W.3rd. 63 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2004)
• Little v. Fulps, 2002 WL 31831367 (Tex. App-Dallas 2002)
• In re Keith Jobe, 42 S.W. 3d 174 (Tex. App.-Amarillo 2000)
• City of Cleburne v. Donna and Edwin Trussell, 10 S.W.3d 407, No. 10-99-287-CV (Tex. App.-Waco 1999)
• Julian Perez et al. v. George Murff II and City of Wichita Falls, 972 S.W.2d 78 (Tex. App.-Texarkana 1998, writ denied)
• Robinett v. Carlisle, 928 S.W.2d 623 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 1996, writ denied), cert. denied, 118 S. Ct. 7 (1997)
• City of Wichita Falls v. Sherry Norman and Freddie Norman, 963 S.W.2d 211 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 1997, writ denied w.o.j.)
• Freddie Castillo v. City of Wichita Falls, Chief Curtis Harrellson, and Officer Larry Robinett, No. 2-95-262-CV (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 1996)
• Larry Lawrence v. City of Wichita Falls and Wichita County Water Improvement District No. 1, 906 S.W.2d 113 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 1995, writ denied)

Administrative

• City of Wichita Falls v. Marilyn Gamble, No. 96051, Texas Workers Compensation Commission Opinion No. 212 (May 1, 1996)

• Texas Supreme Court
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
• United States District Courts, Northern, Western and Eastern Districts of Texas

Born in Tyler, Texas, Mr. Messer grew up in Richardson, Texas.  He is a family man and a fifth generation Texan.